The main components of a drive train of a motor vehicle are a drive assembly and a transmission. The transmission converts rotational speeds and torques of the drive assembly, and provides the tractive power of the drive assembly at an output drive of the drive train. The operation of the drive assembly is controlled and/or regulated by an engine control device. The operation of the transmission is controlled and/or regulated by a transmission control device. In a transmission control device, which controls and/or regulates the operation of a motor vehicle transmission preferably built as an automatic, or automated, transmission, a shifting strategy is implemented where the shifting strategy of the transmission control device controls or regulates the operation of the transmission based on the driving condition data and the data of the driver's wish. The shifting strategy determines, in particular, a change of gears from an actual gear to a targeted gear based on the driving condition data and the data of the driver's request.
A transmission control device, disclosed in DE 10 2006 001 818 A1, evaluates the topography of the travel route ahead of the motor vehicle in order to determine a gear change with the support of a computer, for example.
The patent, DE 10 2007 025 502 A1, discloses a transmission control device that controls the transmission depending on information about the environment of the motor vehicle, in particular based on information about route inclines and progressions. In the process, the transmission control device also evaluates information about the environment of the motor vehicle, such as that sent from traffic guidance devices.
Although it is already fundamentally known from the prior art that a transmission control device controls and/or regulates the operation of the transmission based on data concerning the environment of the motor vehicle, in particular on the basis of topographic data, there is a continued need to further improve the operation of a transmission on the basis of such data, in particular to ensure the lowest possible fuel consumption while simultaneously providing the greatest possible agility of the motor vehicle. Therefore, a transmission control device is needed, which further develops transmission control devices known from the prior art, so that the greatest possible vehicle agility is guaranteed with the lowest possible fuel consumption.